


For Want of a Dress

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awkwardness, Except not really because they already know each other, F/F, Meet-Cute, Misunderstandings, canon-typical idiocy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 21:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13198905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: “She’s not that good,” Sabrina said with a little laugh. “I think…”“Who said I wanted you to think?” Sabrina kept on getting ideas lately. Ugh. “Anything Marinette designs is going to be much better than anything we can come up with, especially since we’re supposed to model our own designs. She’s bound to look incredibly gorgeous and everyone else will look stupid!”Sabrina cleared her throat. “Okay, Chloe, maybe we should just sit on the sidelines and root Marinette on. Would that make you happy?”“No! That’s not what I’m getting at.” Chloe shook her head. “What we should do is steal Marinette’s dress and…”





	For Want of a Dress

**Author's Note:**

  * For [agrestenoir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrestenoir/gifts).



It all started because of a stupid dress competition. One of those fashion contests that the Agreste company loved to hold and the school always ended up getting involved in. Lately there seemed to be one every year. Chloe still remembered her humiliating defeat in the hat contest a few years ago, but this year she was determined to win.

“I don’t know, Chloe,” Sabrina said nervously when Chloe announced this intent. “Marinette usually does so well on these fashion challenges. And this one’s a dress—I don’t know if I can sew well enough to make a dress…”

“Why are you so defeatist lately?” Chloe asked, cocking her head. They were on their way out of school, and Sabrina walked about a step behind her, hunched over her bag.

“Well, maybe if you got some help from one of your connections. You know a couple fashion designers, right?”

Chloe scoffed at this. Sabrina always came up with the most boring methods. Besides, “You honestly think any of them could stand against Marinette?”

“…Yes?” Sabrina ventured. “They’re professionals.”

“Marinette’s designs are a hundred times better than anything they’ve ever done with funding,” Chloe said. “I’d think you would know better. You saw that Ladybug-inspired jacket she made three months ago. So chic.”

She sighed, a little sidetracked. Yes, Marinette had showed up to class in a Ladybug-spotted jacket three months ago. It had been sexy as…well, it had been a very nice jacket, and well crafted and designed, not to mention timely considering she had worn it just the day after Chloe herself had been rescued by Ladybug from an Akuma who was obsessed with correctly-filled-out paperwork. Marinette’s natural good looks and a jacket that was a tribute to Ladybug—a deadly combination. Chloe was certain Marinette had seen her blushing, which was hugely embarrassing, but the point was that Marinette was a brilliant designer.

“She’s not that good,” Sabrina said with a little laugh. “I think…”

“Who said I wanted you to think?” Sabrina kept on getting ideas lately. Ugh. “Anything Marinette designs is going to be much better than anything we can come up with, especially since we’re supposed to model our own designs. She’s bound to look incredibly gorgeous and everyone else will look stupid!”

Sabrina cleared her throat. “Okay, Chloe, maybe we should just sit on the sidelines and root Marinette on. Would that make you happy?”

“No! That’s not what I’m getting at.” Chloe shook her head. “What we should do is steal Marinette’s dress and…”

“Stealing her design didn’t work out well last time.”

“No, we steal the dress itself. And this time we can check it for her trademark beforehand.”

Sabrina shook her head.

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

Sabrina sighed.

* * *

 

Chloe wasn’t exactly a gymnast but lately she was more and more in shape because Akumas kept on attacking her and she needed to be very fit and prepared in order to dodge their attacks, run away from them and occasionally fight back. Ladybug always arrived before things got completely dire but until her arrival Chloe always had to fend for herself, and she was getting better and better at it.

Anyways, the end result was that while a few years ago Chloe would have struggled to climb a tree, she now, at the age of sixteen, considered herself a functional artist of parkour. This came in handy on days like today, when she was trying to climb through Marinette’s window.

It was a couple floors up, so a bit of a struggle. She’d brought a grappling hook with her and that sort of helped but still, quite a strain on her arms.

Sabrina called out quiet encouragement from below.

A police officer walking by paused and asked, “What are you two doing?”

Shit shit shit. Chloe didn’t turn around—she was halfway up and this was no time for distractions. But she called down in her most innocent, girly voice, “Just practicing my wall climbing.”

She could hear the policeman briefly speak to Sabrina in a quiet voice and then leave. Maybe Sabrina had mentioned that Chloe was the daughter of the mayor. Maybe it was enough to just look at her and see that she was clearly white and rich. Chloe could get away with anything.

At last she reached the window. It was closed but not locked. She shoved her way in and fell in a heap on the floor. Looked around quickly. No one there. Good.

Back in the day, she could have walked in through the front door and the Dupain-Chengs would have welcomed her as one of their daughter’s friends. These days, though, they gave her odd looks, and she was not sure she could pull off that bluff anymore.

She was going to look for the dress in the closet but no need. It was standing in the center of the room on a mannequin. And God, what a look. It was a combination of reds and blacks that would probably look very good on Marinette—no spots so it wasn’t quite a Ladybug tribute this time, but it was still definitely her thing. The red and black look was never quite as good on Chloe but it would do.

She took it off the mannequin and went back to the window. “Sabrina!”

And…Sabrina was gone. Without a trace. Missing.

But it had only been a minute! Chloe called out again, “Sabrina!”

Nothing.

Well, what was she going to do now? The plan had been that Chloe would toss down the dress to Sabrina and then climb down herself. She couldn’t climb down with the dress in her hands, and she certainly wasn’t going to carry it in her mouth. But it was too late to give up now.

Chloe frowned. There was one solution. She had been planning to change into the dress only after careful inspection for a trademark and perhaps some alterations (they had another day to work on it before the contest) but with things as they were, she would just have to change into it now and hide her own clothes in the room somewhere that Marinette hopefully wouldn’t notice them until much later. It would be awkward climbing down in something so flashy but physically it was the best option, and it wasn’t like the police noticing her had mattered all that much earlier.

This could still be salvaged.

She put the dress back on the mannequin for the moment and stripped off her sweater and her shirt, hurriedly hiding them under Marinette’s bed. Pants came off next, though she had to take off her shoes first for those—her pants were much too tight fitting to maneuver them over her heels. She hid those under the bed as well. Paused, sitting on the bed in her underwear, to give the dress one last admiring look.

It was at this point that Marinette stuck her head in through the trap door.

Chloe froze.

Marinette gaped.

Then, mouth still wide open, she emerged through the trap door, closing it behind her. “C-Chloe?”

Chloe straightened and tried to look casual. Showing any signs of weakness in front of Marinette was a bad idea no matter the situation. “Marinette. I thought I’d come over to…uh…talk to you…”

Marinette was staring at Chloe’s bra. “O…kay?”

Chloe took a moment to thank God that her bra today was actually a pretty good one, pink with little frills. Her underwear was very basic and white, but at least Marinette did not seem to have noticed that yet. She said, “Yes. I um. I wanted to talk to you about the dress competition.”

“Oh. Really?” Marinette tried to pry her eyes up to Chloe’s face. Slowly, she sat down on the bed next to Chloe. “What did you want to say about it?”

Damn. She really didn’t have anything to say about it. “I hope you do well.”

“Well, that’s nice.”

Marinette leaned closer to Chloe. At this point Chloe realized that without meaning to, she was leaning closer as well. She stiffened her arms, bracing her hands on the mattress.

Marinette scooted back too. Her eyes were a little manic. “I’m sure you’ll do well too.”

Not now, she wouldn’t. And apparently they weren’t going to talk about the fact that Chloe was mostly naked? Not that Chloe objected to that.

She stood abruptly. “Well, I should be going.” She took her clothes out from under the bed and threw them on rapidly.

“Oh, are you? I mean, if you want to stay…”

“I have places to be,” Chloe said. “Important things to do. You wouldn’t know about it. Bye!”

It only occurred to her when she had already climbed out the window that at least this time she could have left through the front door.

* * *

 

It turned out that Sabrina had been distracted because the Dupain-Chengs had seen her and invited her in, and she would have returned in a minute. She just had to go into the bakery so as not to look suspicious. If Chloe had waited a moment it would have been fine, though to be fair if she had waited a minute Marinette would have caught her with the dress in her hands, not sitting on her bed in her underwear, which…

Actually still would have been better. Damn it.

Chloe went to the fashion competition only because it would look odd if she didn’t—she showed up to all school events, after all. Marinette looked as gorgeous in the dress as she had expected. A few students asked Chloe why she hadn’t entered, as she usually entered any contest that she could, and she made some comment about being too busy and giving other people a shot.

Disappointing, but not so bad. She’d even managed to meet Marinette’s eyes with her usual glare, and though Marinette had looked nervous she hadn’t said anything. So Chloe was about ready to forget the whole thing until she got a text on her phone mid-afternoon.

_“Chloe, we need to talk.”_

_“Meet at my house this evening?”_

She texted back, _“What would we talk about?”_

_“You know what.”_

_“If you come I won’t tell anyone about it.”_

That sealed the deal. Blackmail? Was Marinette going to blackmail her now? Well, she didn’t have any evidence that the whole thing had ever happened, so Chloe was going to laugh in her face. She stormed over to Marinette’s house in the evening after dinner, ready to yell until Marinette gave up and backed down.

But Marinette met her with an oddly friendly smile and brought her upstairs. They sat down on the bed again.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Chloe huffed. “I, uh…I was waiting to talk to you and it got a little hot.”

Marinette smiled more seriously than usual. “Chloe, it’s okay. I’m sorry I was so awkward about it the other day, but…I understand. It was just a little shocking to me because I didn’t know you felt that way about me, and you were so straightforward.”

Chloe’s face was hot. “I don’t feel anything about you!”

“No, it’s fine. I’m sorry I reacted badly. I should have known you’d do something like that—it’s just like you to overdo it.” Marinette touched Chloe’s hand gently. “I…I’m not rejecting you.”

Chloe blinked.

“But could we maybe take it a bit slower than that?”

Chloe’s eyes widened.

Marinette nodded firmly. Then, leaning forward, she kissed Chloe on the lips, soft and warm.

Chloe’s hands came up automatically to Marinette’s shoulders and settled there. Should she push Marinette away? Clearly, but…This was actually kind of nice.

She’d never imagined Marinette Dupain-Cheng kissing her. Well, okay, she’d imagined it, but not in any realistic fantasy. Marinette wasn’t impressed by her, didn’t like her at all as far as she could tell. Yet now she was kissing her.

This couldn’t actually be real, could it?

Her mind was stalled in overthinking, but her body was not. She held onto Marinette and kissed back, hoping that if her inexperience showed it would be forgiven. After all, she was sure Marinette didn’t go around kissing lots of people either. Did she?

The moment ended with Marinette pulling away, a dazed smile on her face. “So, uh…I told my parents you were coming over to do homework. Want to work on something? It could be a study date.”

“Sabrina’s already doing mine.”

Marinette frowned, then forcibly smoothed her face over and awkwardly smiled. “Oookay. Well, I have to work on my homework.”

“I’ll go.”

“Right. Uh, do you want to get lunch tomorrow? We could go to this café on…”

“Like I’d go to a café you chose. It’ll be Café de la Paix. I’m paying.”  Chloe headed towards the trap door. “Wear something nice.”

“Isn’t that…”

Chloe shut the door.

On the way out she bought herself a chocolate éclair. After tonight, she needed something sweet to steady her nerves. She texted Sabrina, _“So now I’m dating Marinette.”_

Sabrina was weirdly unsurprised.

**Author's Note:**

> To agrestenoir: I wrote this fic as mostly fluffy Chlonette, hope it's up to standard? And that you enjoyed it?  
> Honestly I feel like if they got together there would be some sort of shenaniganizing involved. So I wrote some shenanigans. It's a fun ship! And I was very happy that your options allowed me to write femslash, and my favorite kind of femslash too--I love femslash between enemies and rivals. :) :)  
> Also this was my first time writing a ML fic so I hope that doesn't come through too obviously.


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